Brevoort

Excellent. Thank you all very much. That is exactly the information I needed. It looks like I have more work ahead than I'd hoped. BTW - Thanks Denali for that tip about keeping a log through the installation. That's an excellent idea and I wwill extend it to the setup of my entire computer as I move ahead. Cheers all

I've just started to set up a new computer and was about to install FSX when it occurred to me that I now have a machine fully capable to running P3D But I am unclear on how to get my FSX addons into the new system. I have read a great number of threads about this but either I am missing something conceptually or more likely something isn't sinking in with me. Do I have to resintall all of the addons from their original installation files? (aircraft, scenery, mesh etc) I am aware of the so-called Estonia migration tool and it looks like a fine way to avoid a lot of work but can I use it to migrate addons out of my FSX folder and into P3D on the new computer, or does it also need the original installation files? I have a great deal of ORBX scenery and it seems best with that to install from the ORBX designed P3D installation files. But it would be a great help it I could just transfer my entire FSX folder into the new computer temporarily, and then migrate my existing files into the P3D environment and then delete the FSX folder.

I am disappointed to learn of this. I signed for a Galaxy membership well more than 10 years ago. I supported Justin when he got hit with financial and personal disasters and was forced to beg the members for money. I praised his products unreservedly. It was an honorable and worthile place to do business. I can understand that ownership can change but it is beyond me why I would not be notified of these changes and given a chance to redownload something I misplaced. The new owner clearly has no interest in honoring previous business commitments. I am also appalled that a business can deny me access to product that I had previously purchased in the good faith that it would always be available. I do not for one second believe that the current data rights holders prevent this. I think that what was once a jewel in the flight sim community has turned into a shoddy and dubious enterprise. I hope that Justin has severed all connection with this outfit. I used to hold him in the highest regard and I would not like to change that opinion.

Thank you very much for this. That floating bar irritated me no end and yet I realized it was a very trivial thing to get upset about. So thank you again Rick Grant YYC

And that, is the nub of this problem.I do a lot of work with organizations in the field of crisis communications and it is a truism that more damage to a firm's business and reputation is caused by inadequate, insensitive, and dismissive customer communications than the original problem that touched everything off.There is indeed a loyalty that builds in long term customers and it needs constant respect because once it has been violated through an insensitive corporate response then future income from those loyalists dry up.It is much much harder for a company to find new customers than to maintain existing ones.I have nothing to say on whether ORBX made a poor business move but its response to its aggrieved customers, whether they were in fact wronged or not, was in my view insensitive and needlessly insulting toward what look to be their best long term customers.

A fascinating thread.I'd like to see whether my long distorting memories have it right that the first 3rd party addon aircraft for FS was a low wing tandem seater called the "Hungwell Gypsy" by Laemming Wheeler.I believe it was released in 1989/90? for FS4.Later that year I remember someone released a set of amphibious floats for the Gypsy and I thought things couldn't get any better.I also remember, with some amusement, that not long after that I bought a 386 PC "so I would never again have any trouble with frame rates in Flight Simulator"Rick GrantCalgary

Thanks so much. AppreciatedRick

I have a new copy of FSX Acceleration and I know that I should remove SP2 before installing it, but I don't know what if any effects this procedure will have on addons such as My Traffic etc that are already installed and require SP2.I think I should be okay if I don't run FSX during the uninstall and new install but I am unsure.Thoughts?Rick

I can confirm this. I have the same setup and it all works nicely.As an added bonus I find that TrackIr seems to work smoother and has a wider range of motion. I've assigned various Ezdok views to buttons and hat switches on my Saitek and the combination with TrackIr is faultless. RickCYYC

I flew Twin Otters in the Canadian Arctic off and on for about five years in the late seventies, early eighties, so my memory of specifics is not perfect. But it really is that good a handling aircraft. When I transitioned from DC-3's to the de Havilland it was like shifting from a 19th century tramp steamer to a starship. Everything worked, everything was clean, nothing rattled, and the heater worked. On top of that the sheer ease of airmanship in the Twin was a revelation. I am really impressed with Aerosoft's flight dynamics and how well they seem to have captured the real thing, at least in my memory. This is an aircraft designed right from the drafting table to be hand flown. It is stick and rudder and honest flying characteristics all the way. But pay attention to trim and keep the control forces neutral.It's not the best aircraft in the world but it is the best at what it does and it won't go out of its way to kill you.Rick GrantCalgary

I agree that Tongass first of all, then followed by Misty and Vancouver+, are in my opinion the sine qua non of scenery in flight simulator.Supplemented with FS Genesis mesh where needed, ActiveSky, FE and GEPro, these sceneries bring about an immense sense of realism. In the late 80's I had a part time job flying Beavers and 185's out of Prince Rupert into the panhandle and over to the Charlotte's, and sometimes south. These days I get the most incredible sense of deja-vu using these addons that I sometimes start to forget that I am behind a computer and it is 1988 all over again.Vancouver+ is so good at depicting southern BC that I use it as a refresher training aide during planning for my semi regular real life flights to and from Calgary and Vancouver Island. For my personal taste there is nothing, but nothing, in the simulator world to beat crawling along at minimums close to a mountainous shore searching for an elusive and near invisible dirt strip, or a nebulously marked water landing area. Tongass, Misty and Vancouver+ are a bush pilot's world, a world of contact pilotage, airmanship, and critical thinking. I will say however that when I was flying the panhandle, (as well as the high arctic in an even earlier life) that the GPS was a wonder unheard of. I am not so much of a curmudgeon as to eschew the use of GPS's, and indeed in real life I will not fly without one, even in the pattern, but for a real adventure try doing a nice long fjord crawl in Tongass in crummy weather and bad light and you will start to get an appreciation for what a lot of pilots had to put up with every day of their careers.Rick GrantCalgary Alberta

Can anyone comment on the newly released B-25J by Roy Chaffin's RCS team?It was announced at the end of last month for 25$ from the Commemorative Air Force on CD only.I can't seem to find any mention of it in the usual forums and I'd like some idea of its qualities before buying.The announcement is at www.roychaffin.com/rcs-panels.htmlRick GrantCalgary Alberta

>>It really is that simple! ;)Bill, I'd like to see what you consider complicated.Seriously, thanks for the mini-tutorial. It solved a minor but nagging problem with the 206 and I learned a lot in the process. (I'd never heard of alpha channels before)Rick GrantCalgary Alberta

I installed this yesterday after reading the first post in this thread. I completely agree that this is a significant improvement to the look of the Fsim world as I perceive it. The program somehow gives the sun heat and real glare and while some might think that colors are too saturated, they are just spot on for me.For quite sometime I have been bothered by the dullish look of everything in flight simulator as compared to the real world, particularly while in the Virtual Cockpit despite setting the gamma level on my monitor significantly high. FS Atmosphere has woken everything up and created a much better look and feel, at least in daytime which is the only time I have tried it.Before installing, I emailed the developer, Sandon Lyon, and received an immediate assurance that his program operates without causing any problems in BEV or Flight Environment. And indeed, everything seems to work as advertised.There's something else as well. Mr Lyon's program makes some changes to the quality of reflections on water and metal. There are times I'd swear I was looking into real high noon glare. I almost wanted to squint or reach for the sunglasses.I've never had such Flight Simulator value before from something that cost about as much as a paperback novel.But everyone's technical set up and personal color sense is different so it may not be a universal cure.Rick GrantCalgary Alberta

>Seems to me that if they really wanted more space for wildlife>they should should first decommission some golf courses, ski>areas, and roads instead. Very true Holger,There are some who advocate forbidding all signs of human activity and humans as well from setting foot in Banff National Park but they are a minority.The fuss over the airstrip is a little difficult to understand considering that herds of elk wander freely along it with only the very rare small aircraft to bother them. The argument that aircraft engines affect the wildlife is specious when you consider that days and days go by between aircraft movements. There is also a four lane divided highway, the Trans Canada Highway, as well as the main railway line to the coast, not more than 500 metres from the airstrip. It's all you can do to hear an aircraft engine standing right next to it for the roar and rumble of road traffic and wail of train horns.That said, I do have to admit that there is little reason to keep the strip other than for emergency landings. If it was developed in order to attract more flying tourists then there would be a legitimate environmentalist protest because development would result in fences, and there is very little room in that stretch of the valley to allow animals to move through.But honestly, if you took down the windsock and let the snow drift around a bit there's no way that even the most wild eyed environmentalist would ever notice there was a strip there. And from the amount of Elk dung trodden into that strip I doubt that the animals give a #### either.CheersRick GrantUN Kabul